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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24738460, member: 26430&quot;]Wow, some cool coins just posted! Thanks for revising this thread, [USER=99456]@Sulla80[/USER] , these are really interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p>Especially for the cross-cultural influences and -- astonishingly -- the &quot;cross-historical&quot; influences...</p><p><br /></p><p>Copying dies ~1,000 years old. So they kept some kind of &quot;collection&quot; at the mint (or accessible to the mint-masters). It would be great to know the nature of those collections.</p><p><br /></p><p>(And now, as Sulla&#039;s comment shows, we&#039;re using those for inspiration after another millennium! There&#039;s some &quot;Classical Reception&quot; for you!)</p><p><br /></p><p>I have exactly TWO of Islamic Figurals from the Artuqids of Mardin.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is from my &quot;plate coin&quot; collection. <i>Islamic Coins and Their Values</i>, p. 117, #1203.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1582545[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="4"><b>Artuqids of Mardin. Najm al-Din Alpi Æ Dirham </b>(10.98g, 32mm, 3h), citing Abbasid caliph al-Mustanjid billah, AH 547-572 / 1152-1176 CE.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Obv</b>: Two diademed and draped male heads wearing necklaces (Gemini?); Kalima.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Rev</b>: Youthful female head facing (Virgo?), wearing necklace, within beaded circle; names &amp; titles in margin.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Ref</b>: Spengler &amp; Sayles 30.1; ICV 1203 (this coin illustrated).</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Prov</b>: Künker Auction 204 (Osnabrück, 12 Mar 2012), lot 1088; Tim Wilkes FPL 23, July 2017, 99; <a href="https://www.sixbid.com/de/dix-noonan-webb/8258/islamic-coins-from-various-properties/6831398/islamic-coins-from-various-properties-br" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sixbid.com/de/dix-noonan-webb/8258/islamic-coins-from-various-properties/6831398/islamic-coins-from-various-properties-br" rel="nofollow">Dix Noonan Webb (10 Mar 2021), lot 793</a>.</font></p></blockquote><p>[ATTACH=full]1582544[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Note</b>: As the two sets of photos show, apparently there isn&#039;t universal agreement about which is obverse. I think I have it right above?... Kalima is always the obverse?</p><p><br /></p><p>Spengler &amp; Sayles suggest an astrological interpretation, widely but not universally adopted: Gemini and Virgo (the &quot;two houses of Mercury&quot;). I have my own theories about which dies inspired it (Severan, including a Dynastic Aureus).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My second one is a considerable step down in quality. But I like the patina and that it names Saladin. (Unless I&#039;m mistaken!) Just photographed it for the first time to post:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1582546[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="4"><b>Artuqids of Mardin. Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan Æ Dirham</b>, AH 580-597 / 1184-1201 CE.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Obv</b>: Diademed male bust facing.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Rev</b>: Legend in six pointed star &amp; in margins, naming the Ayubbid overlord Saladin.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Ref</b>: Spengler &amp; Sayles 33; ICV 1206.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Prov</b>: Ex Holding History / N. Hochrein (DiPere, WI, 13 Dec 2014).</font></p></blockquote><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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